Slow cooker Korean pork lettuce wraps
Sweet, spicy gochujang pork that falls apart after a day in the slow cooker, wrapped in cool lettuce with rice and a savory miso dipping sauce.
- 500 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 8
- About $2.35 a serving
- 650 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- ¼ cup gochujang, divided
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 3 lb pork shoulder, cut into 4 big chunks
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 1 tbsp sesame oil, divided
- 2 tbsp miso paste
- 2 heads green leaf lettuce, leaves separated
- 1 English cucumber, cut into sticks
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
Each serving has about 650 calories, 36 g protein, 55 g carbs and 32 g fat, and costs about $2.35 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No English cucumbers? Cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
3 tablespoons of the gochujang with the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and rice vinegar right in the slow cooker.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Add the onion, then the pork dry and turn each chunk in the sauce until coated.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours, until the pork is and falls apart when you push on it.
Fork-tender. Fork-tender means cooked until a fork slides in with almost no push. It’s how you know potatoes, carrots or slow-cooked meat are soft all the way through.
How you’ll know: The fork slides in and out easily, and meat pulls apart with very little effort.
Timer: 480 min
Dolly’s tip: It looks like too little liquid at the start. The pork lets out plenty of juice as it cooks.Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
About 40 minutes before serving, the rice, then bring it and 2½ cups of water in a on high.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes. Move it off the heat and leave the lid on for 10 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 25 min
the pork right in the slow cooker with two forks, spoon off any fat from the top, and in 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil so the meat soaks up the sauce.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
the miso, the rest of the gochujang and sesame oil, and 1 tablespoon of water together for the dipping sauce.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Dolly’s tip: This is a quick version of ssamjang, the sauce Korean barbecue restaurants serve. A little goes a long way.and dry the lettuce leaves and set them out with the cucumber, green onions and sesame seeds.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
To eat, fill a lettuce leaf with a spoonful of rice, some pork, a dab of sauce and a few cucumber sticks, then fold it up and eat it in two bites.
Dolly’s tip: For lunches, pack the pork and rice together to warm up and keep the lettuce in a separate bag. The pork freezes well for 3 months.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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